Secure, accurate tracking and dispensing of medications is crucial to the modern practice of medicine, particularly in hospital settings, pharmacies, and long term care facilities, such as nursing homes. To provide readily accessible medication at a particular site, a large formulary of available medications are often stored within a dispensing machine located at the site that is capable of dispensing medications when needed. To prevent incorrect or unauthorized medications from being dispensed, use of the dispensing machine is often limited to authorized personnel only. Moreover, to control inventory and prompt reorders, it is helpful to track the dispensed medications.
Some medications require refrigeration to maintain potency. Moreover, refrigerated medications are often more valuable than other medications, such as oral solid medications (i.e. pills). While a standard refrigerator will keep medications at the proper temperature, it does not provide tracking or secure storage of the medications. Thus, it is desired to have machine for securely tracking and dispensing refrigerated medications.